MUSICK: Blackhawks' championship moment unbelievable

Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews celebrates with the Stanley Cup on Monday night after his team beat the Boston Bruins, 3-2, in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals in Boston. (AP Photo/Dave Sandford, NHL Images )

The most wonderful 17 seconds in franchise history ensured that Lord Stanley’s Cup is headed to the streets and homes and bars of Chicago for the second time in the past four seasons. The Hawks trailed, 2-1, against the Boston Bruins with less than 90 seconds to go and had pulled goaltender Corey Crawford for an extra skater when Bryan Bickell and Dave Bolland delivered a one-two punch that sent shockwaves through TD Garden and fireworks soaring into the skies of Chicago.

Bickell stuffed in the game-tying goal with 1:16 remaining to tie the score at two. Seventeen seconds later, Bolland punched in the go-ahead goal to give the Hawks a 3-2 lead.

The Hawks held on for dear life for the next 59 seconds to win the Stanley Cup Final in six games.

Can you believe it?

On the ice, Marian Hossa shook his head in amazement. Hossa wore the body of a 34-year-old man, but inside of him beat the heart of a dazzled little boy.

“This is like a fairy tale,” Hossa said. “We were down, almost end of the game.

“All of a sudden, two goals in 17 seconds. And we’ve got a Cup.”

This is better than a fairy tale. This is real life.

The Hawks got a Cup, and it was beautiful.

Jonathan Toews was the first to hoist the 34-½ pound trophy that seemed weightless above his head. Toews handed the Cup to Michal Handzus, who handed it to Jamal Mayers, who handed it to Michal Rozsival, who handed it to Bolland, who handed it to Hossa, who handed it to Johnny Oduya, who handed it to Corey Crawford, and on and on and on.

Players’ families crowded the entrance to the ice, waiting in sneakers and dress shoes and flats for the gates to open so they could shuffle into the arms of their sweaty loved ones. A little girl in a No. 10 Patrick Sharp jersey looked toward the rafters, amazed at where her feet had delivered her.

It’s the same feeling Hawks fans will wake up with Tuesday. If they even went to bed.

During a season filled with amazing moments, Bolland’s go-ahead goal fit right in. Upon scoring, he shed his stick, he shed his gloves, and he shed every worry he ever had in the world.

How big were his eyes when he saw the puck cross the goal line?

“They were huge,” Bolland said. “They almost popped out of my head.”

How appropriate given the Hawks’ eye-popping season.

The Hawks shattered the NHL’s record by earning a point in their first 24 consecutive games – half of the shortened season. Their home sellout streak increased to 223 and counting. They won the Presidents’ Trophy with a 36-7-5 record and entered the playoffs as the favorites to win the Cup.

And then they won it.

Unbelievable.

In 2010, the Hawks beat the Philadelphia Flyers to snap a 49-year championship drought. That Cup was about decades of missed opportunities and a long, painstaking return to relevance.

This Cup is about one joyous season, one joyous moment.

It’s a moment that almost never happened.

Remember the dark days of September, October, November, December and January? A nasty labor dispute wiped out hundreds of games and threatened to end the season before it started.

As the calendar flipped to 2013 and rinks remained dark, Bolland pondered a lost season.

“You do get worried,” Bolland said. “But everything went well. Look where we are now.”